Marco Antonio

Marco is a young man of 18 years. He lives with his family in a community called Cimarron de Santa Teresita de Turrialba, in the Cartago province. This is a small rural community of approximately two thousand inhabitants. Its people work in milk production and agriculture. The terrain is irregular and much of it is tropical, humid woods. Cimarron is located approximately an hour and a half by bus from Turrialba, the closest shopping center. Of course, at various times throughout the year the road becomes impassable due to the rain.

Marco has wanted to start a banana plantation for several months, since he now has property which he inherited from his parents for this purpose. However, he does not have the capital to start up his business. He hopes to sell his produce to his community. He says that he finds this project very interesting.

Marco is now requesting a micro loan of ¢500 000 (five hundred thousand Colones) for the purchase of banana seeds. With this, he hopes to raise up his business and greatly improve his quality of life and that of his family.

Marco is a member of the Empresa de Crédito Comunal Nuevas Esperanzas for Cimarrón, one of the 100 member organizations of EDESA in Costa Rica. This will be Marco's first loan and with it he hopes to continue growing personally and economically, as well as participating actively in his community's credit organization.

Additional Information

More information about this loan

As a small and relatively young MFI located in Costa Rica, EDESA has difficulty attracting other sources of capital. Many other microfinance funders do not work in Costa Rica, because overall the country is too rich. However, organizations such as EDESA work with extremely marginalized populations in Costa Rica that really need the access to capital that EDESA provides. By funding EDESA, Kiva lenders are allowing the organization to grow and reach more people than they otherwise would be able to reach.